President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was working with congressional Republicans on a "phase two" tax-reform plan to help middle Americans and corporations, telling Missouri business leaders that "it's going to be something that I think is very special."

"We're going for a phase two, which will help — in addition to middle class — companies," Trump said at a roundtable at the Boeing Co. plant in St. Louis. "It's going to be something that I think is very special."

He said that Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and the Senate were "working on it with me."

"It's going to be something that I think will really be a big incentive to do a lot of things like we're doing right here," Trump said. "A tremendous incentive for the workers."

Touring the Boeing plan with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, President Trump touted his economic successes — from Wall Street gains to job increases to lower jobless claims — and slammed Democrats for not supporting the tax bill passed in December.

"Unfortunately, on the original plan, we didn't have one Democrat vote — which is pretty incredible," he said. "Now, they're regretting it.

"But we're going to do a phase two."

The president also said that the White House had asked Congress to finance 24 new F-18 Super Hornet fighter jets from Boeing in its upcoming budget.

"The F-18, one of my favorite planes, to me, it's a work of art," Trump said. "You look at the workers. Look at the talent that went into it.

"It's spectacular. It's a beautiful thing to watch.

"We're working on price," the president added, looking at Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg. "Maybe we can work out a good price."

Local leaders and Boeing workers praised how the tax plan benefitted them, with several telling of how they used their gains to help better serve their families or add to retirement.

Renee Cricker, an employee of the College of the Ozarks, a Christian liberal-arts institution in the state, she used her bonus to fly abroad to be with her daughter, who had been in a medically induced coma because of double viral pneumonia.

"This bonus could not have come at a better time in my life and my family's life," Cricker said.

Muilenburg, the Boeing CEO, said his company used the tax savings to announce a $300 million investment "back into our people."

Besides increasing compensation, the effort includes upgraded plants and offices, improved training programs and "investments in our communities and veterans."

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was working with congressional Republicans on a "phase two" tax-reform plan to help middle Americans and corporations, telling Missouri business leaders that "it's going to be something that I think is very special."